"Microsoft is not the answer. Microsoft is the question. 'No!'is the answer." Dr. Zweistein

FALCON SOFTWARE REVIEW: RAINBOW II - MULTIMEDIA by Richard Karsmakers

The Swedish company Addiction Software have recently releasedthe upgrade of their excellent standard-setting Falcon-onlydrawing package "Rainbow". Now adding to the excellence of theirdrawing program the ability to handle editing of sound, spritesand slideshows (and it even has a small game), it is called"Rainbow II - Multimedia". It has been delayed a bit (originallyplanned for late 1994, I recall), but I can assure you it's beenworth the wait (now where have we heard that before?).

Rainbow II - Multimedia

Basically, "Rainbow II - Multimedia" is the same old "Rainbow"with a lot of bits added and full compatibility between thestudios. The earlier version already had a Photo Studio but nowthere are a Sprite Studio (allowing for animations to be made), aSlideshow Studio (allowing for picture shows with animation andsound to be made), a Sound Studio (to record and edit digitalsound via the Falcon's microphone socket) and even a game (aversion of "Land Mine" that came with your Falcon) that have beenadded. It's written in 100% pure assembler, resulting in maximum speedwith no nonsense. It works with any OS you run it under - it justfreezes the rest of the system. Upon exit it returns everythingback like it was. The only problem you could run in to is a lackof work memory within "Rainbow" if you run the program in aboosted resolution with "Geneva" and rather a few installedaccessories and AUTO folder programs (such as I tried on my 4 Mbmachine).

The Interface

"Rainbow" still uses an interface bigger than the screen,scrolling as the mouse comes too close to any of the edges. Forthose who don't like that perpetual scrolling it can be "locked"in a specific place (by pressing [ALTERNATE] or [SPACE]). Theentire user interface has manifold buttons and dialogs that arelocated at the sides of a kindof window through which you see(part of) the picture that is currently in memory. These can bepositioned anywhere where you want, and the configuration savedfor each individual studio. The total workspace can be redefinedfrom 384 x 280 (which is the default size) to 384 x 1120 or 768 x560, for example. This allows for huge pictures to be comfortablyedited. Everything works with the mouse, though it's also possible toadd a graphics tablet for our input (with which I suspect most ofthe sample pictures were made <grin>). Conventions for use arevery much the same in all the studios.

The Picture Studio

There are several ways to select colours. You can pick them fromthe picture, you can pick them from one of 10 pre-definedpalettes or you can select them directly by determines theamounts of Red, Green and Blue that should compose the actualcolour. A nice touch is that you can draw with two differentcolours without having to pick each of them each time - you canassign a colour to the left mouse button as well as the rightone, separately. Hell, you can even draw with a mixture colourwhen keeping both keys pressed (although this is limited to someof the somewhat more basic functions). "Rainbow II" has been extended to it can load rather a few moreformats than its predecessor. It can load TIFF, Targa,"TruePaint", RAW, "GodPaint", "IndyPaint", "EggPaint", Falcon 16bImage, GIF (!yes!), "Spectrum", "NeoChrome" and "Degas" formats,and can save TIFF, Targa, "TruePaint", RAW, "GodPaint","IndyPaint", "EggPaint" and Falcon 16b Image formats. I stillmiss .JPG and .IFF would have been nice (and maybe Kodak's photoCD format what with the Photo Studio module being so extensive),but I think the addition of .GIF is a giant leap ahead what withthis format being very popular.

The many options "Rainbow" offers include standard "draw", butalso "smear" and "blend" (blends the pen colour with thebackground). You can even let the program determine which of ther/g/b planes to affect with drawing. You can "line", "chain" (in"Degas" that's "K-Line" I believe), "fade line" and "ray line".There's a "sponge" option, a "spray" option (that's very good,like that in "NeoChrome" and unlike that in "Degas") and theusual array of "shape" options (including ellipse as of version1.2) as well as "fill". Version II adds the ability to paint asif with water colours or as if with oil. Impressive. The "shape"and "fill" options have been improved, too. Do note that each function can be configured. Left mouse buttonselects, but right mouse button displays a submenu where furthersettings can be affected.

The Photo Studio

"Rainbow" can load as many pictures as your computer's memorywill hold. You can quickly switch between them, clear them,redefine their size, destroy them (the difference is that itwon't change, like with "clear", merely into a black picture butwill actually release all memory as well), hflip/vflip, halvex/y, analyze, cut and paste. Many more operations like these can be found in the PhotoStudio, a separate module that uses the same picture data as thePicture Studio. Its worktop is loaded with buttons that allow youto perform certain more advanced functions such as "negative","adjust" (light/darkness), "swap" (swaps R, G and B according toyour needs) and "noise". "Rainbow II" now allows you to evenshift the R, G and B layers independently, "smooth", "harden" and"soften" pictures. Although some of these operations take a bitof time, especially when their effect is configured to be fairlyintense, this certainly makes this particular module a lot moreadvanced than that of the original "Rainbow". All these optionscan be configured, of course, so as to determine which planes toaffect and how seriously the effect should be (usually inpercentages). Configuring any option in any studio is accessibleby using the RIGHT instead of the LEFT mouse button. Like the Dutch say: A child can do the laundry.

The Slideshow Studio

With "Rainbow II Multimedia" it is possible to make graphicspresentations using sampled sound and animation. These can bemade using the Slideshow Studio. Each slideshow consists ofseveral steps, comprising sprite data (see below), aspecification of a sound file and picture files. An illustratoryexample is added on the program disk, so it's easy to startthere. Creating a moving kind of demonstration, for example foruse on computer club gatherings or in shop display windows, isreally a doddle now.

The Sprite Studio

If you're designing moving components for a game, this might bethe section of the program to check out. Several movement phasesof a so-called "sprite" can be displayed, and graphics can beimportant from the Picture Studio. Your animation can be made tomove so you can check if you've done well enough, and an example.SPR sprite file is present (as well as a description of theformat, for use by programmers) for you to check out and startwith. I found it really easy to work with - which goes for mostof the program, really - and quickly had simple things moving. Ifyou're a good graphics artists (on the contrary, of course, toyours truly), you can make some amazing stuff with this option.

The Sound Studio

We all know the Falcon has hardware built in to convert analogsound information, fed into the microphone socket at the back,into digital information - sample digitizing. Well, the SoundStudio allows you to do just that, and then edit whatever youhave sampled. You can revert, cut, paste, and even echo (thoughsomehow this seemed to have the same result as "reverse"....maybea bug in the program?). Everything is fully configurable (soyou'd better switch off the internal speaker right away if youhaven't already done so, or haven't disconnected it physicallysuch as many Falcon I know, including myself), of course, anddigital sounds can be written/read in RAW sound format or,preferably, AVR. I think it's a really comfortable and easy way to sample soundsand edit them.

The Game

Hardly useful but fun to have nonetheless, and that's why thisis the only of the modules that is not in memory permanently.Upon selecting the Games Studio it is loaded and you can play anice variety of the "Land Mines" game. Unfortunately, despite the180 Kb module size, it does not save hiscores or anything. But ithas nice sound effects and the screen is as big as whateverdesktop you have configured at the moment (i.e it can be quiteenormously big). A nice little extra for when your eyes need some rest afterhours or pixel-putting.

Concluding

"Rainbow II - Multimedia" is a very powerful program that trulycaters for all the aspects its name promises. Existing studioshave been enhanced significantly and the addition of the SpriteStudio makes it a great tool for game graphics designers, theaddition of the Slideshow Studio a potentially powerful tool forpresentations. But let's not forget the versatile Sound Studiothat makes it frightfully easy to sample sound, edit it and evenprocess it extensively. For those select few who didn't think"Rainbow" featured everything they needed, I'd wager to say that"Rainbow II" does have it all. If it's up to me, "Rainbow II"should be the de-facto industry-standard Falcon drawing package.No GEM and shit, just the good bits.

Pro:

o Allows drawing with 65,536 colours; 16-bit true colour!

o Excellent, fully user-re-configurable user interface.

o Fast selection of colours and pre-defined palettes.

o Switches from any resolution (including screen resolution enhancers and the like) into the proper true colour resolution it needs, and switches properly back upon exiting.

o Screen parameters for VGA or RGB can be manipulated. And, er, the program actually works on VGA, RGB and TV!

o It supports the "Tabby" graphics tablet. Might be useful for some of you out there.

o Multiple zoom levels are supported.

o Truly Falcon-specific, uses DSP code too.

o Extensive "manual" type functions included within the software via an easy "tutorial" function. The manual becomes more or less superfluous if it weren't for the thing mentioned in the "con" department.

Suggestions for improvement:

o The password protection. It really sucks. Even though it only appears once in every 2 to 7 days, fact is that if you happen not to have the manual handy (you really only need it for the password, nothing else) you're stuck. I wanted to demonstrate "Rainbow" to a friend when I'd brought my computer to his place, but of course I hadn't thought of bringing the manual with me. Including a registration program that puts the name in the program itself seems much better to me. Or make sure it only runs on one specific computer (which Stuart Denman's "Yahoo" does).

o Although the .RAW format is specified as beind loadable, I couldn't load what .RAW files I had (from the so-called Australian "Rolling Demo". This might be due to these specific pictures, though, not "Rainbow II".

o A "please wait" dialog appears when time consuming stuff is being done. This, however, does not give an indication of the time yet needed. A percentual bar (if full then finished) would have been better.

o You can't interrupt or break off picture manipulation functions, not even the ones that take really long.

o A "you will lose any changes" warning before quitting after having not done any editing seems superfluous.

People in the UK that want to become "Rainbow" retailers shouldcontact JCA. French and Swedish retailers have been found, too.Others should contact Addiction Software. If you buy "Rainbow"now you will get the possibility to upgrade to any futureversions.

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